Twenty-eight patients with BCLC stage A (32.1%), B (46.4%) or C (21.4%) received either a mean of 3.4 (median 2) TACE interventions (N = 15) or single SIRT (N = 13). Both treatments were well tolerated. Despite SIRT patients having significantly worse physical functioning at baseline, at week-12, neither treatment had a significantly different impact on HRQoL as measured by Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary total or its subscales. Both TACE and SIRT were effective for the local control of liver tumours. Best overall response-rate (RECIST 1.0) of target lesions were 13.3% and 30.8%, disease control rates were 73.3% and 76.9% for TACE and SIRT, respectively. Two patients in each group were down-staged for liver transplantation (N = 3) or radiofrequency ablation (N = 1).

CONCLUSIONS

Single-session SIRT appeared to be as safe and had a similar impact on HRQoL as multiple sessions of TACE, suggesting that SIRT might be an alternative option for patients eligible for TACE.